Our People

Approach

Epson develops and trains its human resources in line with a Human Resources Development Policy established in 1996. The policy states that Epson will "..support employees who have aspirations for self-actualization, to connect all the companies in the Epson Group with people, and to nurture employees so that both corporate and individual objectives are met." We provide training so that our people understand their roles and what is expected of them as members of the Epson team. Training enables them to work and communicate effectively, solve problems and achieve goals, and experience personal and professional growth.

In fiscal 2012 Epson introduced a new personnel system that specifies clear roles and requirements for management in terms of both business and conduct. To ensure the efficacy of the system, Epson has implemented a training program that aims to ensure that managers acquire two essential management skills. In one course they learn our strategic business objectives and acquire the skills that allow them to rapidly and nimbly respond to internal and external changes in the business environment. In the other course they acquire the skills that enable them to support the growth and development of the people who report to them by putting organizations and individuals in a position to succeed.

Epson also conducts group trainings for new hires, junior staff, and others in pre-management positions to develop talented people for future management positions.

Practicing Off-the-job Training on the Job

A feature of human resource development at Epson is that we provide level-based group training at every juncture along the career path, from entry level jobs through management, and give employees a chance to put into practice on the job the knowledge they acquire.

After completing group training, new hires undergo a one-year practicum. Other employees who complete other group trainings undergo a three-month practicum. During the practicum, employees prepare action plans based on what they learned and put these plans into action on the job under the supervision of their supervisors, thus enhancing their ability to use the knowledge and skills they learned during training, in their actual jobs.

Epson has used a management by objectives systems for more than 30 years. Managers and their subordinates work together to set objectives that they can both agree on. Progress toward the objectives is periodically reviewed, end results are evaluated, and new, higher objectives are set. The management by objectives system is itself an on-the-job human resource training system. It is a win-win development cycle in which individual growth leads to growth of organization and company.

Training Initiatives

Middle Management Training

Epson offers a course in management practices to its middle managers worldwide. The course is designed to teach these employees the roles and responsibilities that managers are expected to fulfill, and to enable them to learn the principles, skills, and practices they will need to follow to effectively serve in a management capacity. The course is structured so as to give participants an opportunity to practice in the workplace what they learned in the course. During the 2014 fiscal year, 239 employees took the course.

Also, in February 2015, we held a Global Incubation Seminar (GIS) in Japan for 26 members of middle management from 18 of our overseas affiliates, as well as three from Seiko Epson. We have been holding this seminar every year since 1999 to develop future business leaders and to spread and ingrain Epson's Management Philosophy.

Seminar participants directly hear from the president his vision and ideas and get a clear sense of the direction the company is headed. They are reminded of Epson's values and mission, which is to exceed customer expectations. They learn things that they can put to use on the job. The seminar also gives participants an opportunity to build relationships within Epson, with people engaged in very different operations.

President Usui (center of front row) with GIS participants and instructors

Group work

Final presentation

Training for New Employees in Japan

Epson considers the first year of employment to be a training period during which new employees learn about the Epson approach to work. For the first three weeks, new employees in Epson Group companies in Japan gather at the Head Office for group training, where they learn the following:

Training to think about customer satisfaction

Conduct expected of them as Epson employees

The mindset and attitude necessary for practicing "monozukuri" or the art and science of manufacturing, which is the foundation of Epson's compact, energy saving, and high-precision technologies

The importance of working cooperatively as a team

Training ranges from lectures on the Epson Code of Conduct to hands-on training in manufacturing. New employees learn the importance and enjoyment of working in teams, through group activities that take place throughout the training period.

After they complete group training, new employees are sent to the department where they have been assigned. There they learn their job through on-the-job training under a mentor. Mentors are usually selected from among young employees with two or three years of experience. They produce training plans tailored to the individuals they will be mentoring and, for a full year, provide them with the support they will need to stand on their own. Mentors themselves are expected to grow through this experience.

At the end of the first year, the new employees gather again for follow-up group training, where they can observe how they and others have grown and developed. To further solidify the foundation they have built as a business professional, they review the previous year and consider action plans for the next year and beyond to achieve further growth and expand their contributions to the company.

Creating Value That Exceeds Customer Expectations and the Monozukuri Juku

Epson's Monozukuri Juku, one of the departments in Seiko Epson's Head Office, is an in-house manufacturing school that aims to contribute to the enhancement of customer value. To this end, we teach our staff basic technology and skills and let them experience monozukuri (the art and science of manufacturing) by performing certain manufacturing tasks step by step. This helps employees tackle jobs from a number of different angles. Specifically, the Monozukuri Juku teaches the basics of component processing (molding and pressing) to provide requiring employees with the skills needed to produce a variety of the parts that go into Epson products. It also provides them with the skills and experience necessary to automate and otherwise increase the efficiency of manufacturing lines.

Factory productivity improvement initiatives are nothing new at Epson. Earlier examples included the introduction of machines and jigs to production processes. More recently, however, we are facing great changes in the manufacturing environment. Particularly outside Japan, it is not always easy to secure the necessary labor because wages have risen rapidly and many workers prefer non-manufacturing jobs. Earlier improvements were based on the assumption there would be plenty of inexpensive labor and our business could face difficulties if we simply try to repeat those measures. Therefore we are making a strong push to build production lines that do not overly rely on human labor but are still capable of ensuring stable production.

Monozukuri Juku offers training in the basics of mechatronics, which includes basic technologies like compressed air and electrical control as well as assembling and adjusting simple devices. In December 2014, basic training was expanded to include an all-process training that covered essentials for stepping up the pace of automation: material feeding and removal, robots, image processing, mechanics, and more. This training is given to mechanical and maintenance engineers in Japan and manufacturing and machinery maintenance leaders in other countries.

Mechatronics basic training

Mechatronics practical training

Developing Young Technicians through Technical Skills Olympics

As a manufacturing company, Epson in Japan uses training for Technical Skills Olympics competitions to develop "groundbreaker," technicians who quickly acquired essential manufacturing knowledge and skills and have the ability to break from precedent to create innovative technologies and systems. As a rule, individuals are allowed to take part in Technical Skills Olympics trainings just once. The purpose of the short-term intensive trainings is to help participants learn technical skills at the all-Japan level. Every year Epson sends 10-15 individuals to the National Technical Skills Olympics to compete in seven selected categories that are applicable to our business: Instrument making, Press tool making, Mechatronics, Industrial electronics, Web design, IT network system administration, and Watch repair.

New employees sent to Monozukuri Juku as Technical Skills Olympics trainees experience monozukuri (the art and science of manufacturing) in such forms as rasping and cutting by blade. They also learn basic knowledge about machinery, electricity, and other general topics. Staffs assess trainees' strong points during this process and assign trainees to certain positions. Trainees then proceed to training specific to their positions. In conjunction with everyday occupation-specific training, there are training camps three times a year. Participants lodge together, run a 40 km road race, join group discussions, set targets, and the like. All of this helps to build a sense of solidarity as Team Epson.

To recreate the feel of the national competition, Epson also holds joint training events with other companies that take part in the Technical Skills Olympics. Additionally, our employees actively pursue national qualifications for machining technicians, electronic device assembly technicians, web design technicians, and watch repair technicians. After participants finish Technical Skills Olympics training, they get practical training to help them build the basic skills learned there into skills they can use to make products. Each participant then joins an operations division. The units they join often praise these employees for performing beyond expectations.

Because the above events are limited to those eligible to take part in Technical Skills Olympics, we hold further practical monozukuri trainings about 100 times a year that are open even to those who do not participate in Technical Skills Olympics training. These help to raise the overall level of the young employees who are Epson's future. Focuses include mechanical drawing; component measurement; operation of general-purpose machine tools such as lathes and milling machines as well as NC processing machines and grinding machines; mold manufacturing; and robot safety.

Participants in technical skills (mechatronics) training

Speech training at morning assembly

Trainees start a 40 km road race

A joint training designed to resemble the national competition (press tool making)